Z TLIS blues
by corneroffandom
Summary: Dolph Ziggler finds himself faced with the impossible: cheering up Zack Ryder


"Well I guess you'll just have to watch and see, now won't you?" Dolph Ziggler says into his phone, ever-present smirk on his lips as he pushes the locker room door open and enters, grimacing at how dark it is in the room. Fumbling around, he finds the light switch and flicks it, immediately walking up to the bench where he'd left his bag. Smackdown had just ended and he's about to leave for the night, but when he turns around, his eyes fall on a familiar form sprawled out on the opposing bench and he hesitates. "Hey, I'll call you back later, huh? Nah, everything's ok, just gotta handle something before I leave the arena."

He drops his hands on his hips, eyeing his off-and-on rival, Zack Ryder, who looks like he's fast asleep. Rolling his eyes at the self-proclaimed Internet champion's odd ability to fall asleep anywhere, no matter what's going on around him, he wanders closer and kicks his boots, jostling him hard enough to knock him off of the bench. Which _has_ happened in the past, and probably would happen again in the future. Except this time he barely responds, remains in place. Dolph frowns, his cheap attempt at amusing himself failing. "Hey, Ryder," he snaps. "What are you doing?"

Opening an eye a slit, the Long Island superstar stares blankly at him a moment before turning his head away, tangling his hand around his earphones as he pulls them out of his ears by the cord leading to the iPod resting nearby. "Nothing."

"I see that. I guess I should ask why are you doing nothing _here?_" he demands, narrowing his eyes at the unusual vibe he's getting from the normally hyperactive man. "What's going on?"

"It's just more crap to do with Z!TLIS, don't worry about it," Zack sighs, standing up and curling up his earphone cords. The last thing he wants to do is discuss the various grievances he has about his show... with his rival, no less! Unfortunately Dolph's never been the kind to drop things that easily.

Standing up, he blocks Zack's path to the door, shaking his head until his blond locks go this way and that. "Tell me."

Zack's laugh is bitter and more than a little impatient. "Since when do you care, Ziggler? You haven't hacked my show in weeks so I don't see why it matters to you."

"It doesn't, really." He stares shrewdly at Zack, shrugging. "It's just... it takes a lot for you to look _this_ downtrodden. So I'm curious. Why not tell me what happened? If nothing else, it'll keep me from having to find out in other ways and might even make you feel better if you talk about it."

The Long Island Iced Z's grimace is weak, cracks easily when he looks down at his hands, a woebegotten look on his face. "Fine, fine. If it makes you leave me alone for awhile, I'll tell you." He swallows, glancing up. "I was really excited for this week's Z!TLIS... I traveled into the City and filmed a bunch of stuff for it, and WWE refused it. Not once but twice."

Dolph winces discreetly, scrubbing a hand through his hair. He better than some are aware of how rigid WWE can be about certain things and he can tell by the look on Zack's face that he'd put a lot of work into the episode, which would probably never see the light of day now. "That sucks." He takes a breath and shrugs. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Work on it some more, I guess," he muses. "It was a good episode, and I worked a lot on it. I guess I'll... re-edit it for next week's episode until WWE accepts it."

Nodding approvingly, Ziggler smirks. "Good, if it's as good as you say it is, then you shouldn't give up on it." He watches as Zack nods back, glancing towards the door like he wants to leave before an argument somehow breaks out between the two of them, as it always had since the US title feud last year. "One last thing, Zack," he says, licking his lips in confusion at where this sudden need to continue their conversation had come from.

"Yeah? What?" he asks, stopping reluctantly at the locker room door.

"What exactly do you want from Z!TLIS?"

"You know what I wanted from it- exposure, more TV time... to be noticed, and entertain people while doing it." Zack frowns, not entirely sure why Dolph had to ask that. "Wha-"

"No, that's what you wanted from it _before._ When it was still shiny and new," the Show Off explains, waving off Zack's previous explanation like it's nothing more than a simple gnat bothering him. "What do you want from it _now?_" He thinks he knows but he wants to hear the Long Island Iced Z say it, even if just to accept it himself.

They stare at each other a long moment, Zack's breaths loud and uneven in the suddenly stifling quiet locker room. "I want it to end," he admits lowly.

Dolph's far from surprised, had garnered as much from Zack's tweets a _long_ time ago. The man's far from subtle, after all. "Yeah. Alright. What are you going to do to accomplish that?"

It's clear he has no idea, his face lit up with uncertainty and something close to exhaustion. "I have no idea. WWE isn't going to let me end it that easily."

"Since when has that ever stopped you?" Dolph rolls his eyes. "You wanted to get their attention with Z!TLIS, you did that. You wanted a US title shot, you got it." He stops, a little bit of leftover bitterness filling his eyes as he takes in Zack's thoughtful gaze, some of the uncertainty fading away. Clearing his throat, he reminds himself he's in a much better place _since_ and this isn't about him- for now- anyway. "If you want to finish Z!TLIS, then force the issue. Make them listen to you. You've done it in the past, it should be easy enough to do."

Uncertainty shifting to thoughtfulness onto determination, Zack nods. "You're right. Of course. I need to fight for this, I need to end it. It's been tarnished enough. When it started, everyone loved it. Now..." His eyes darkening with displeasure as he considers the many messages he'd seen over the past few months regarding his show and his visible disinterest in it, he shakes his head. "Yeah. It needs to end."

Remembering an off-hand tweet he'd sent awhile ago, Dolph's lips twitch a little as he takes in how... lighter Ryder somehow seems now. "January 11th, huh?"

"Yep. Episode 100." He takes a breath. "I'm kinda gonna miss it, but I've been out of ideas for a long time. I'm not sure how I'm gonna fill space until then _now..._"

"Well," Dolph mumbles, surprised and not even sure why he's about to suggest this, but unable to stop himself. "I guess I could film some more ATH segments for you. May as well give the WWE Universe _something_ to be entertained by until you put that show out of its misery, huh?"

Zack rolls his eyes, following Dolph out of the room as he heads down the hallway, preparing to leave the arena. "Oh, haha, bro..."


End file.
